Most committees have passed a small number of priority bills. A few bills have been approved by either the House or the Senate. Even fewer have cleared both chambers. Here is a breakdown of bills that have passed either House, Senate or both.
Most committees have passed a small number of priority bills. A few bills have been approved by either the House or the Senate. Even fewer have cleared both chambers. Here is a breakdown of bills that have passed either House, Senate or both.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published VPR How Women Are Bearing The Brunt Of The Economic Impact […]
A loud, fiery 10 lb. six-inch wide meteor flashed over Northeastern Vermont Sunday evening, according to NASA Meteor Watch. It took about 5-6 seconds to burn up, which made it easy to see. Its passing sounded “like big trucks crashing,” according to young eyewitnesses in Johnson.
Heterosexual marriage must not be denigrated as a “stereotype.” Both human history and modern academic studies show us that heterosexual marriage is not only the most enduring bond between adults, it is by far the most beneficial to children. By any meaningful standard – emotional security, educational and employment achievement, freedom from substance abuse, future family happiness – heterosexual marriage benefits children the most. While government should not discriminate against parents who do not fit this mold, government should unapologetically support the heterosexual family – not denigrate or dismantle it.
Today, as I prepare to write about crossover in the Vermont Legislature and a meteor that flashed across the Vermont sky Sunday night, my heart is with the family of a dear friend, Heather Sheppard, who blazed her own beautiful path until Sunday morning at 11:55 when she crossed over into eternity.
March 11 will mark one year since the first patient diagnosed with COVID-19 received care from the UVM Health Network. Combined with the cyberattack and the suspension of surgery at Fanny Allen, it’s been a tough financial year for Vermont’s largest health care provider and employer.
After the push for the carbon tax fizzled out in 2018, the “climate change” game turned to enacting a carbon tax by disguising it as something else. The latest version is called “the Thermal Energy Efficiency Charge”, and Sen. Bray has become its most ardent promoter.
A Vermont wooly mammoth fossil, discovered in a railroad right-of-way at Mt. Holly near Rutland, is still helping paleo-researchers understand what life was like in the Ice Age.
As a result of the bill that passed the Senate on Saturday, 428,000 adults and 145,000 kids in Vermont will be receiving direct payments averaging $2,230 per household. In other words, 89% of Vermont households will be receiving a direct payment under the Senate bill.
Rep. Peter Welch voted yes an amendment to the HR1 “For the People” act that, had it passed, would have lowered the mandatory minimum voting age for federal elections to 16.
The Vermont Legislature may need a special summer session to spend all of the money bestowed on the State of Vermont by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, Vermont lawmaker David Yacovone (D-Morristown) said in the March 4 News & Citizen.
A Senate bill would add five cents to the wholesale cost of every dairy product retail container and return the money to farmers in the form of higher milk prices.
What would the outcome be if those ten newspapers, or all Vermont newspapers, suddenly decided for financial reasons to cancel the publication of letters and commentaries and reallocate the funds? Yet in all honesty, isn’t that what VPR did when it cancelled its Commentary Series?
A new version of the S30, Chittenden Sen. Phil Baruth’s proposed ban on carrying firearms in many public places, strikes all the previous wording and establishes a single new criminal punishment for carrying a gun inside a hospital. It also includes a study to determine if the policy prohibiting firearms at the Statehouse is sufficient or if it needs to be “strengthened” through legislation.
The story of the music-filled lives of the von Trapp Family Singers, their performance at the Salzburg Music Festival, how Maria met Capt. Georg von Trapp and his children, and the family’s escape from Nazi-annexed Austria in 1938 (just before war erupted), is well known. The family’s eventual relocation to the USA is also frequently recounted. But what few know is how the Von Trapps came to call Stowe, Vermont, their new home.
In 2010, Vermont had 2,248 incarcerated individuals under its watch. Today, that figure is just 1,258–a 44 percent decline. For supporters of criminal justice reform and lawmakers looking to lower Vermont’s inmate population, that’s good news – right? Wrong, say activists.
Colchester-based Green Mountain Power (GMP) announced on March 4 a power purchase agreement with Great River Hydro, based in New Hampshire, to provide power for customers.
A spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders says his office sought to replace the vendor in charge of distributing Farmers to Families food boxes to local needy people. In the changeover, Vermont churches were left out of the distribution process.
Donald Trump has passed from view, but the virus of New Leftism is thriving and easy to see. And what is visible is that it is a bitter, seething contempt, far wider than any one man.
The children are largely in charge now – including Max and his band of comrades – with their cancerous form of postmodern, deconstructive, illiberal and authoritarian Social Justice Theory.
Following an investigation that began in December 2020, the Vermont State Police has cited Nicholas Cianci, 25, of Bradford on suspicion of physically assaulting and threatening a woman with whom he was in a relationship.
America has been the anchor of western civilization for the last century. Today we no longer articulate our values and principles. We listen constantly to leftist crap. This is the reason we have drifted so far off our moorings. It is time to stand for something.
Many employers see the COVID crisis as a catalyst for change in the future of work, encompassing how people work, where, and with whom. Most employers are committing to a hybrid work model, where employees work from home regularly and frequent the office less.
President Biden’s inaugural address called for unity to bring the country together. His speech of healing showed promise of moderation. We soon learned that his actions speak louder than his words.
The presence of a School Resource Officer deterred Jack Sawyer from carrying out his planned 2018 Valentine’ Day weekend mass shooting at Fair Haven Union High School, the school’s superintendent tells Ericka Redic on the latest episode of the Ericka Redic Show.
Vermont ranks last in projected allocations to states from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act passed by the House of Representatives, according to a March 3 report by Congressional Research Service. The Act now goes to the U.S. Senate, where a tough battle is expected over its inclusion of a national $15 minimum wage and other controversial features.
On Feb. 11th the Vermont House of Representatives introduced H248, a bill declaring that an unborn baby, beginning at 24 weeks gestation, is a legal person. Due to the miracles of modern medicine, babies have survived at even earlier than 24 weeks. At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 triplets at 22 weeks gestation were born at UVMMC to the McShane family. Cian, born 12/28/19, weighed 1.08 lb.. Declan, born 1/2/20 weighed 1.47 lb. and Rowan, born 1/2/20 weighed 1.08 lb.. These three babies were discharged from UVMMC on July 15th, 2020 after reaching normal milestones in growth and development.
FAQ about a possible internet gamechanger for rural Vermont, from tech entrepreneur Tom Evslin of Stowe – who has no financial interest in Starlink.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
At a Feb. 24 public hearing, Welch said market forces created our polarized national media and suggested government funding as an alternative.
Governor Phil Scott today announced that the next phase of the State’s vaccination efforts will begin on March 8 for Vermonters with certain high-risk conditions. With additional supply coming to the state, Governor Scott also unveiled a new track of the vaccine rollout starting next week to include school staff and childcare providers, as well as an expansion of the definition of first responders under Phase 1A.
There are 100 new cases of Covid-19 among incarcerated individuals and eight new staff cases in the outbreak at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, the Newport Dispatch reports. The cases were […]
Our ship of state is captained from the stern. We scan our wake for bad signs. A corpse floats by — we need a law. A raw sewage dump or fish-kill fouls our wake — we need a law. A powerboat swamps a canoe — we need a law. The water doesn’t freeze in February — we need a law.
A Cambridge pastor laments a decision by government officials preventing his church from distributing Farmers to Families food boxes to local needy people.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
Corrections officers at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport say the State’s decision to vaccinate inmates before it vaccinates prison staff sends a terrible message to the workers and their families and is hurting staff morale.
Life has changed so much in the last year – how I work, travel, and dress. Today I discovered the pandemic – or rather, our leaders’ misguided handling of it – has changed how I vote.
There are many effects, and digging very deep into our psyche, and in ways from which we will never fully recover. What is the most severe punishment for the worst possible deadly criminal? A single month in solitary confinement.
This week, lawmakers are Town Meeting break. Taking advantage of the respite, Vermont Daily looks back at the most-read, most-commented-on news stories from the 2021 Legislature.
There is a proposal making its way through the Vermont House of Representatives to raise and expand Vermont’s bottle deposit law (H.175). The bill would double the cost of a standard bottle deposit from 5 cents to 10 cents.
Vermont residents who live within five miles of another state border may cross state lines into border towns on “essential and necessary” activity, the State of Vermont has announced in what it calls “common sense relief.”
The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) has mailed all-new 1099-G forms to 180,000 recipients, with the final batch in the mail today, according to a DOL statement.
The Vermont House of Representatives today passed ‘Covid Relief Bill’ H315, allocating $79 million in federal and state funding, according to release from the office of the Speaker of the House.
A bill to broaden school vaccine exemptions has been introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives. H.322 proposes to add conscientious and personal belief vaccine exemptions, and to remove coercive language from state vaccine exemption forms.
On March 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier, Isabel Brown of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) will meet Vermonters, speak, and hold a Q & A.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published WCAX Chimney fire destroys Waitsfield home 2/25/2021 8:12 AM VT Digger […]
The proposed “Enhanced Energy Savings Act” is a carbon tax, and maybe the Senate should “own it and come out swinging,” one senator told his fellow Natural Resources and Energy Committee members yesterday.
Voters in Burlington and about 20 other Vermont municipalities will decide on Tuesday whether to allow retail cannabis stores – “pot shops” – to be allowed to receive licenses to operate.
In addition to his constant nasty comments on social media and in the press Kolby upset many Burlington party members by unilaterally deciding not to run candidates in Burlington’s elections next month. His rationale was that the city GOP has been so tarnished by President Trump that it must be remade by him before participating in the electoral process again.
Meanwhile, the entire process surrounding this bill has been charted without an ounce of transparency. There has been no formal fiscal note to provide legislators with the cost of this legislative change. The legislative committees that deal with education, or with finance have not even reviewed this education-financing bill!
Monday, Feb. 22 the Vermont State College System Board of Trustees voted keep its campuses open while saving money by merging college organization structure. The decision is a response to a pressing […]
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
Stratton Town Clerk Kent Young has apologized – sort of – for his Town Report essay urging newcomers to stop trying to make the tiny Windham County (population 216) town like where they came from. But some social media readers think he did just fine.
Green Mountain Power will break ground this spring on a cutting-edge utility microgrid in Panton, pioneering a new way to keep the power on for residents, farms and municipal buildings in the town center during power outages, the state’s largest utility said this week.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published WCAX Jeep and trailer catch fire on I-89 2/23/2021 7:24 AM […]
Seven Days has around 43 employees; VtDigger around 22. How many at your local newspaper? Their budget? Local newspapers will soon face new competition for scarce ad revenue, talent acquisition/retention, fundraising/donations and future subscribers. The outcome? Put a large fish into your aquarium. What happens to the small fish?
David Ismay, an attorney and former senior official of the Massachusetts governor’s administration, is not, I assume, a well-known name in Vermont. However, he should be.
Vermont’s state internet technology (IT) resources have long been plagued by glitches, crashes, and difficult-to-navigate interfaces. But a renewed focus on modernizing the state’s IT system may be a step towards a solution for these recurring challenges.
Fair Haven resident Neil Robinson, the organizer of HO HO HO (Helping Overtaxed Home Owners Help Others), believes property taxes are too high. A 1% Goods and Service Tax under municipal control could reduce or eliminate the property tax, he recommends.
Ten Vermont legislators have sponsored a bill (H.268) to create a “Sex Work Study Committee” concerning the legalization of prostitution in Vermont. This bill strives to rewrite Vermont history via an absurdly vacuous lie that Vermont prohibited prostitution because of “white supremacist” motives.
The Vermont House of Representatives will meet remotely for the rest of this year’s session, House Speaker Jill Krowinski said.
Many Vermonters may not know that under that new state law, once a community votes “yes” and a marijuana retailer sets up shop, that retailer can continue to sell marijuana in the community forever.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published WCAX Burlington police arrest car larceny suspects 2/22/2021 9:43 AM WCAX […]
Gov. Phil Scott said last week the State of Vermont will withdraw state family planning funding for Planned Parenthood when the federal government restores its Title X family planning funding to abortion providers.
About 50 people braved a Northeast Kingdom snowstorm yesterday to rally in support of embattled Newport print shop owner Mark Desautels’ stand against the state’s masking directive.
New House bills would take pension from cops found guilty of excessive force; create “Youth Council”; reduce cash bail; raise income tax; give Legislature nominating board control over candidates for National Guard leadership; increase water quality monitoring and reporting. Also – a bill for background checks on firearms.
For years Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has given hate speeches and tweeted anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel statements, but only Georgia Republican, Marjorie Green, has been displaced from Congress for one similar comment.
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission has delivered its report, and its recommendations should trigger an intense debate. Switching public education support to the income tax and expanding the sales tax to include services will be very controversial. It’s regrettable that the legislature didn’t begin with a performance review, to decide what state government should be doing with $4.5 billion a year, and then address the tax structure needed to pay for it.
A Brattleboro caregiver stole $225,000 from an elderly man over a three-year period, Brattleboro police say.
Don’t miss breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state. Publication Headline Published VT Digger The Deeper Dig: Bringing students back 2/21/2021 7:52 AM […]
Bills up for House committee review this week would encourage home visitation by school workers, allow candidates to spend campaign money on personal expenses, let a judge order police to take away firearms, study a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” for Vermont, promote BIPOC home ownership, and reimburse farmers for crop damage caused by black bears.
When most of us think of fictional master British spy James “007” Bond, we might imagine the sun-drenched Riviera coast, nasty Karate-chopping villains, or strong female characters played by the likes of actresses Ursula Andress and Honor Blackman. What we probably don’t think about when imagining Mr. Bond is either Vermont’s Echo Lake or New York’s Lake George. Well, it’s time to rethink Secret Agent 007’s fictional espionage playground.
Despite being thrust into the spotlight over the last few days and having to end his franchise with UPS, store owner Michael Desautels is optimistic about the future of his business in downtown Newport.
Bills in the Vermont House of Representatives would merge the remote-worker incentive program, implement rural broadband, add staff for the Ethics Commission, and adjust school property taxes for population density, poverty, and second-language learners, according to a Campaign for Vermont weekly update.
Gov. Phil Scott joined other governors praising the U.S. rejoining of the Paris Climate Accords.
Concerned about the looming loss of adequate early morning police patrol coverage due to “defund the police” measures, Tom Licata of Burlington recently wrote two letters to Burlington City Council and city officials. Receiving no response, he shared them with Vermont Daily.
The Valentine’s Day gift given to Parkland, Florida was the direct result of, a predictable consequence of misunderstood human behavior. Frightening to me is that experts in psychology and human behavior understand well, but this knowledge is being ignored and in its place come Progressive political policies which seek to deny what do many others know.
Through February 19, Vermont lawmakers have claimed $218,144 in the $75/day per diem permitted for at-home expenses.
H.283, providing the right to refuse any unwanted test, treatment, or vaccine, was introduced yesterday into the Vermont House. Sponsored by four Republicans, a Democrat, and an independent, it would specifically prevent employers and state government from requiring vaccination in exchange for jobs, travel, childcare and other benefits.
Vermonters and New Yorkers know much about French explorer Samuel de Champlain from his brief exploits along the shores of the great lake that now bears his name. The French explorer made it at least as far south as the future sites of forts Crown Point or Ticonderoga; he most likely battled native people along the lakeshore, in 1609, somewhere near the sites of the famous 18th-century British citadels.
Vermont has one of the nation’s highest rates of high school and college graduation, according to a new online report.
The Coalition for Tobacco-Free Vermont and other advocacy groups want the Vermont Legislature to pass S24, legislation to eliminate the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, supporters said yesterday at the State House.
VT Watercooler has merged with Vermont Daily. Don’t miss the breaking news! Vermont Daily Water Cooler is a roundup of important headlines from around the state.
My introduction to the Late Great Rush Limbaugh happened in 1989 when I was assigned to the Island of Guam as Administrative Officer of the Naval Station there. His syndicated show came on in the wee hours of the morning. I could just barely pick up the broadcast on my personal small radio. But I strained to hear the broadcast, which fed an inner need of mine.
H268, a bill to create a study group “for the purpose of modernizing Vermont’s prostitution laws,” was introduced yesterday into the Vermont House. It alleges state law prohibiting prostitution is steeped in racism.
Another 40 Days for Life Rally – a “Mid-Point Rally” – will be held 3 pm, Sunday, March 7 at Washington Street, Barre, near the local Planned Parenthood clinic.
Here in Vermont our bi-weekly briefings given by Governor Phil Scott are currently promoting vaccinations. Like it or not they are experimental at best and with no extensive track record or long-term data to support them.
In Episode #5 of the Ericka Redic Show, Vermont’s newest video news host interviews Shawn Shouldice to learn how the pandemic and government regulation have combined to hurt small business in Vermont – and what can be done to make survival more likely.
Three winters ago, New England narrowly avoided a regional power blackout such as struck Texas this week. What happened here three years ago and what is happening in Texas is strikingly similar.
The same government that seeks to mandate electric school buses to avert climate change, dispatched a fleet of diesel-fueled school buses to deliver lunches! Was that in the best interests of children? Employing the National Guard’s tanks would have been comparably efficient….
Vermont Daily readers have been asking about the State of Vermont’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In particular, they have asked about meetings between state officials, including Gov. Phil Scott, and PRC officials.
Last week’s news of the abrupt departure of the Vermont Democratic Party’s Outreach Director was disturbing on a number of levels.
Legislators are debating how to address the lack of affordable housing in Vermont, coming into conflict with the Scott Administration’s proposals to tackle the problem. While both sides have been keen to invest resources in housing over the past several years, there remains a stark divide over whether or not regulatory burdens need to be reduced in order to lower housing costs.
Town Meeting Day in Vermont is the first Tuesday in March. It will be different this year because of the pandemic lockdown. Many towns, including Cambridge, will not be gathering in person. In this podcast Erica interviews several town meeting moderators about why town meeting is important, and what we will be missing this year.
Last month, after more than ten years in hiding, Lisa Miller surrendered herself to American authorities at the U. S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua. Miller, now in custody at the federal detention center in Miami, faces kidnapping and conspiracy charges. She’ll likely be found guilty but, in reality, she’s a victim of bad ideas. A mom, attempting to protect her daughter from her own bad choices and our society’s attempt to redefine marriage, parenting, and the family.
A bill declaring a fetus a legal person during the third trimester has been introduced into the Vermont House of Representatives. Although unlikely to proceed in the pro-legal abortion House, H248 seems to have science on its side.
According to police, the scammer advises that they are a Deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department (Civil Warrant Processing Unit). The scammer subsequently requests monetary funds via Western Union. The victims are advised that Franklin County Deputies will arrest them in person at their residence if the fines are not paid.
Rutland-born Brig. General Edward Hastings Ripley attained the rank at age 25, and along with Gen. George Armstrong Custer, was among the nation’s youngest generals ever appointed in the War Between the States.
This week, Vermont Daily has scheduled a lineup of five provocative commentaries written by thoughtful Vermonters about current issues.
In my experience, attempting to undo bad policies by instituting more bad policies is not an effective solution to anything. Study after study show that well-intentioned efforts like these do more harm than good especially for the people who are targeted for help.
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